Don’t Take It, by Armando, is one of the songs being highlighted on “City To City 3: DJ Deep’s Journey Through Chicago, Detroit, and New York’s Secret House Gems (distributed by BBE).” The song starts with a classic 4-to-the-floor beat, steadily building with sinister bass blips. And then a woman approaches the beat to deliver her ultra-feminist manifesto:

“This is Sharvette, and I’m here to bring a message to the ladies. Have you ever had a man who wines you and dines you? Treats you like he’s God’s gift to all men? And then soon as he gets it it’s the classical example of “slam bam thank you ma’am.” How many of you ladies can relate? Well this is the 80’s. We don’t have to accept that anymore. There’s a million fish in the sea, all colors. Ladies are movin’ up in the world. We’re runnin for office, takin’ over all the men jobs, gettin education, for the positions that you never thought a lady would be able to fill. Don’t Take It. I won’t, and nobody else should. We’ve come a long way baby.”

The kick and hi-hat comes in, along with some syncopated cymbal work. The frequency of the bass blips begins to stretch, and starts to sound like something I’ve heard Daft Punk do on their first album. Hmmm.

As the beat continues to simmer and percolate, the lady continues her speech warning women not to fall into the pitfalls of a male-dominated world and encouraging them to “stay on top.”

The more she speaks, the more the beat morphs into a psychedelic swirl of mayhem and passion (for all you 420 heads, this is the section of the song where it sounds like the beat is melting).

After the storm comes calm. The bassline drops out, revealing a skeletal etch of the song, which eventually shuts itself off.

This really is a gem of a song. With its minimal chic production, this song is a testament to the lasting influence of the omnipresent synthesizer and drum machine. It also serves as a testament to DJ Deep’s great taste and deep respect for house music. If you think about the predecessor to house music (disco), you can distinctly hear the HUGE difference between dance music of the 70s and dance music of the 80’s. You soon realize that you are listening to a time capsule that transports you to the origins of a subgenre born out of a new-found freedom and confidence that could have only come from the 80’s.